ENI and Enel sign strategic agreement on CO2 capture
Italy's largest electricity provider Enel has signed a deal with ENI, the country’s biggest oil and gas company, to create the country's first carbon sequestration project, aimed at reducing greenhouse gases from a coal-fired power station.
The agreement will see Enel capture C02 from the chimneys at a coal-fuelled power station at Brindisi in southern Italy. The gas will be transported to the site of a former ENI natural gas field near Piacenza, in the north, and injected into the rock.The scheme should be fully functional by late 2010, the companies said.
At the same time that the agreement was signed, ENI, Enel and Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at the verification and diffusion of CO2 capture techniques and the promotion of renewable sources.
Prestigiacomo said there were 12 similar pilot projects happening around the EU.
"If we do this we will have a new low-cost energy source," said ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni, referring to the possibility for Italy to increase its use of coal, even as it tries to reduce emissions.
By 2020, the companies said all new-build power stations should be using carbon sequestration.
Fulvio Conti, Enel CEO, said that the agreement involves two major Italian energy groups in the creation of the best solutions to fight climate change in a way that is effective and safe.
“These joint efforts offer Italy an opportunity to lead in the development of the most innovative technologies, which are attracting the attention of the major European and US energy companies and of international institutions. Those technologies can also be exported to large coal consuming countries such as China and India," Conti said.
